Free Music in North Adams!

A 10-week music series in the heart of Downtown North Adams.

MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center and the City of North Adams Office of Tourism & Community Events want to expand access to high-quality, free, family-friendly music in North Adams. We’ll use the Levitt Amp [North Adams] Grant to bring 10 weeks of awesome music to the newly renovated Colegrove Park in the heart of downtown North Adams.

What is the Levitt Amp Grant?

The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant is an exciting matching grant program made possible by Levitt Pavilions, a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of America through the power of free, live music. With Levitt AMP, the joy of free, live music is bringing communities together in small and mid-sized towns and cities across the country.

Why North Adams?

A small city with a big heart, North Adams will benefit from the Levitt AMP North Adams Music Series as it will enable us to capitalize on our previous experience producing concerts and create a professional, high-profile music series. Further, it will allow us to re-launch a newly renovated green space, Colegrove Park, as an inclusive community gathering place.

As a centrally located and free ten week family friendly series, Levitt Amp North Adams offers an opportunity to bring high-caliber musicians to North Adams, removing any income or psychological barriers and exposing all residents to a global perspective they would not otherwise encounter.

Why Colegrove Park?

Levitt Amp is interested in projects that transform an underutilized public space. Colegrove park has been underutilized for the last 60 years & is an ideally situated space to launch a new concert series in North Adams.

Designated as a public park in 1904 with the intention to create a centrally located public green space for city residents to enjoy fresh air, the original Colegrove Park included a fountain, tiered lawns, grand marble stairways and at one time a bandstand. It remained a vibrant public park until the first round of urban renewal in the mid 1950s. In the years since, as the city struggled with the loss of major factory employers and rising crime and poverty, the park saw very little regular use. Currently under construction along with the public school adjacent to Colegrove Park was closed in the late 2000’s. That school is the site of a 29 million dollar (80% state sponsored) renovation and will be reopened as a state of the art K-7 school in 2016, restoring a lost hub of residential interest in the area.

As we simultaneously restore Colegrove Park, we launch it as the main public park in the city, and the site for events that draw people back to gather as a community and hear live music.

Where’s Colegrove Park?

Currently behind a construction fence, Colegrove Park is easy to miss. By Spring 2016 however it will be a different story. Located on N. Church Street between the church and the Berkshire Artists Museum – Colegrove Park will feature a bandshell, natural amphitheater like hill, new landscaping and a pathway between Eagle Street and the School. We’ll enliven the space with music and people – taking a 110 year old greenspace to it’s fullest creative potential.

What will we do with the money?

We’ll pool matching funds from the City and MCLA to bring 10 consecutive weeks of music (from August to October) to Colegrove Park. We’ll use the money to pay musicians, hire a professional production crew, rent equipment, and market the series. We’ll make sure all the boring basics are covered like insurance and portaletes, but we’ll also make sure to bring a diverse range of awesome musicians to North Adams.